Jacob Gutridge

Editor-in-Chief

Meet Champ and Major Biden, the Bidens’ German Shepards. When President-elect Joe Biden moves into the White House on Jan. 20, he will be bringing along America’s future First Pets.

Biden welcomed Champ into his home on Christmas Day in 2008. First Lady-elect Jill Biden bought Champ as a gift for Biden when he was elected to be Vice President. It was Biden’s grandchildren that chose the name Champ, a name that was inspired by Biden’s father who had told him growing up, “Get up, champ,” when faced with challenges.

When Champ was purchased from a Pennsylvania breeder, the Bidens received some backlash for not rescuing a dog. However, in 2018 the Bidens adopted Major from the Delaware Humane Society, meaning Major will make history as the first rescue dog to live in the White House.

Biden will not be the first president to bring pets to the White House. Having presidential pets has actually been a longstanding tradition dating all the way back to George Washington.

Washington had several American Foxhounds and black and tan Coonhounds; as well as a Greyhound named Cornwallis after the British General. In addition to his many canines and horses, Washington kept an Andalusian donkey gifted to him by King Charles III of Spain. George and Martha Washington were also known to have a parrot named Snipe.

Because Washington never lived in the White House, President John Adams was the first president to actually have dogs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; their names were Juno, Mark and Satan. Thomas Jefferson had several dogs and horses similar to Washington, but while in the White House Jefferson kept several hummingbirds, and at one point was gifted two grizzly bear cubs. Jefferson donated the cubs to a museum in Philadelphia.

Washington and Jefferson were not the only presidents to receive unusual pets as gifts. According to a widely circulated, but most-likely apocryphal myth, John Quincy Adams would scare his guests with a pet alligator gifted to him by Marquis de Lafayette—yes, that Lafayette. Martin Van Buren was given a pair of tiger cubs by the Sultan of Oman, and despite wanting to keep them, Congress forced Van Buren to donate the tigers to a zoo. Calvin Coolidge was given a raccoon named Rebecca as a gift on Thanksgiving. First Lady Grace Coolidge was particularly smitten with Rebecca, letting the raccoon roam the halls of the White House and the White House Rose Garden.

John F. Kennedy had several pets during his presidency, but perhaps most interesting was his dog Pushinka. Pushinka was a gift to Kennedy from the Soviet Union Premier Nikita Krushchev—and she was the puppy of the Soviet space dog Streika, who returned safely to earth with Sputnik 5. Cold War romance sparked between Pushinka and Kennedy’s Welsh Terrier named Charlie. Pushinka and Charlie had four puppies together which Kennedy facetiously called Pupniks.

More recently Barack Obama had two Portuguese Water Dogs named Bo and Sonny. George W. Bush had an English Springer Spaniel named Spot “Spotty” Fletcher, two Scottish Terriers named Barney and Miss Beazley—nicknamed Beazley Weazley—a cat named India “Willie” and a longhorn cow named Ofelia, which lived at the Prairie Chapel Ranch owned by Bush. Bill Clinton only had two presidential pets: his family’s cat named Socks and his Chocolate Labrador Retriever named Buddy.

Donald Trump did not have any pets while in the White House, meaning Trump was the only president besides James K. Polk to break tradition. However, Vice President Mike Pence did have a rabbit named Marlon Bundo, which starred in a series of children’s books and has a modest Instagram following.

Champ and Major Biden have grown popular on social media leading up to Election Day. In response, Biden expressed strong interest to return to the longstanding presidential pet tradition, in just one of many ways Biden hopes to deviate from the Trump White House during his presidency.